Automatically-actuated oil-burner



H. L. SWEENEY. v AUTOMATICALLY ACTUATED QIL BURNER.

APPLICATION HLED SEPT I, 19l8- Patented Mar. 16, 1920.

H. L. SWEENEY.

AUTOMATICALLY AQTUATED OIL BURNER.

- APPLICATION FILED SEPT-7,1918.

HOWARD L. SWEENEY, O13 OAKLAND, CALIFORN IA.

AUTOI ATICALLY-AOTUATED OIL-BURNER.

Specification of Letters Eatent. Patented 313.1. 16, 1920.

Application fllea aeptember 7, 1918. Serial No. 253,033.

To all whom 22? may concern:

Be it kIlOWILthflt I, HOWARD L. SWEENEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oakland, in the county of Alameda and State of. California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatically- Actuated'Oil Burners, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

' This invention relates generally to oil burners, and particularly to burners used for heating furnacesand in which a blast of air or steam is discharged with the fuel from the burner.

Where burners of this character are used in ordinary boiler furnaces or in dry kilns or like situations, should at any time the supply of air or steam be cutoff, the oil, unless the attendant turns it off, will run into the furnace and explode. ,It becomes necessary, therefore, to' provide some means for shutting off the oil from the burner When'the steam or air is shut off. Further more, in open hearth furnaces, using burners of this character, the burners are mounted atopposite ends of the furnace'and much time is lost by the helper pulling out the burner or burners at one end of thefurnace and shoving in the burner or burners at the opposite end of the furnace. This has to be done every fifteen or twenty minutes and,

. furthermore, should the helper forget to pull out the burner when he reverses the air orsteam. supply and the oil supply to the other end of the furnace, the burner points will be melted and destroyed which are expensive.

With these objections in View, one of the objects of my invention is to provide .a burner which, when the air or steam iscut off from. the burner, will automatically cut offthe supply of oil thereto-and. in the case of burners used for ordinary furnaces or for dry kilns in which the turning on of the oil supply will be absolutely prevented until the burner is manually returned to its original position. 1 I

' Another object is to provide a pivoted burner of the character described wherein a decrease in the pressure of the air or steam supplied to the burner will cause the burner to shift from its projected and operative position to a retracted for inoperative position and in so shifting cut off the supply of oil to the burner while when the air or steam is -Fig. 4 is an elevation of a .of the burners coacting therewithpand i aga1n directed into'the burner, the burner will shiftto its, operative position and permit the passage of il d f Steam or air to the burner. V

A further object is to providea burner of this character with an improved formjof combined Oll chamber and air or steam chamber, and in this connection to provide means for preheating the oil prior to its discharge into the mixing chamber of the burner to thus cause the discharge of oil from the nozzle at a temperature many degrees hotter than is possible with burners of the ordinary construction.

A'further object of the invention "as to provide an improved mounting for thedischarge nozzle of the burner which permits the nozzle to be setat any angle desired, thereby overcoming the necessity of twist ing the pipes to set the nozzle properly which twisting action often breaks oil' the pipes.

A further object is to provide a'nimproved form of mixing chamber for the atomizing fluid and the oil, so constructed that thehot oil and air or steam will'be delivered with a whirling motion through the burner nozzle or poin Other objectswill appear in the coursepf the following description. .My. invention is illustrated in'the-'accom'- panying drawings, \vhere1n': 1

Figure 1 is a verticalsectionalwiew burner constructed in accordance with invention Fig. 2 is an elevation partly in' section "of the burner looking from a directional; right angles to the view in Fig. 1 ;'and.'

Fig. 3 is a section on the'line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

furnakjze and Q Fig. 5. is a fragmentary'elevation showing a valve actuating means for the pipe40. As disclosed in the accompanjingdraw ings, X denotes a furnace and 14 burner pipes disposed at opposite'ends'ofthe fur- 8 denotes a suitable support p'r'onace. vided with the upstanding;bearings. l'in which are oseillatably; mounts he-op site end portions of the elon' member M. The middle of, t between the bearings 1 has its'bo' as at 2 and saidenlarged portion of he bore substantially midway thereof tition 3 having its middle portion a disposed longitudinally of the member M and occupying a plane intersecting the axis of the member. iThewall 3 divides the enlarged portion 2 or a bore of the member M into two chambers or compartments A and B.

The bore of the member M outwardly of the op osite ends or the enlarged portion 2 thereoi is intersected by the partitions 1 rovided with the restricted openings 5. ontacting with the outer face of. each of the disks or artitions at is the head 6 of a supply pipe which extends axially of the memberM. Each head 6 has a restricted opening 8 adapted to register with the correspon ing' opening in the partition 4 when the member M is at substantially the limit of" its rotation in one direction as will be described.

; Each of the members 7 is stationary and is. supported by .a T V, passage through which is controlled by a needle valve 31.

Each'T communicates with a stand pipe P. :One of the stand pipes P is connectedby a pipe.D to a source of liquid fuel, while the second stand pipe is connected by a pipe to a suitable source of atomizing fluid under pressure, as for instance air or steam. Dis osed in thepipe C is a check valve 9. t 4 he' side wall of the member M,-at its middle, has anopening 10 defined by an outstanding annularifiange 11. The open .ing 10 is opposite to the center of the wall 3. and secured to the flange 11 through the medium of a coupling12 is a pipe lt. Se-

icurcdjito the outer end of the pipe 14 is an elbowhlb, the outer end of which is provided with a concave socket 16 inwhich is arranged the ball 17 formedon-the inner .end .,of, a tubular .member 18, the bore of which is tapered outwardly, said bore- 19 serving as a mixing -chamber. A burner nozzle 20 is engagedwithmthe member 19 .bya reducing bushing QO 4' The nozzleQQds-preferabl made ofone inch ,pipe with its outer en contracted.to an o ening b The 0 posite'end-ot' the nozzle 0 is countersunk as at 0, to prevent the; deposit of; carbon from .where the mix ture'. enters the nozzle. p v v The center ,of he wall 3 .has an opening 12 1,in1alinementwith the opening 10 in the member M and threaded within said. open- Ting 21 is,.a bushing 22, with v which is'engaged the inner end ofal-pipe 23 extending ai glallyroj thepipe 14-, andhaving its end disposed gthrgough, a collar ZtyFVhich: fits with in /tl re buterend, of aipipQ 14:..aand is provided-f'witlnnn outstandingrannular flange 25 o gerlying ,the outer end of. the pipe 14 and engaged with. the elbow -15 wherebythe collar, 24; j is., .helr; l ,in; applied. ositien. The

. tricted g afi g 26 and coacting with each of said openings 26' is an outwardly opening check valve 27 whereby retrograde flow therethrough is prevented.

Arranged withinthe elbow 15 is an elbow 28 secured at its inner end to the outer end of the pipe 23. Engaged with the outer end of the elbow 28is alnozzle 29 discharging within the mixing chamber 19. The pipes 7 pass through packing glands 30 on' the ends of the member M to prevent escape of fuel. v I

The ball and socket connection' between the elbow 15 and the member 18 permits the. member 18 and the burner nozzle 20 oarried thereby to be set at any angle and this thereby avoids the annoyance encountered with the oppQsite end of the lever '35 'is a counterweight 37 for' a purpose to be hereinafter more particularly referred to.

- Extendingoutwardly from the member or pipe 14 and in a direction away from the direction-of the nozzle 20 is an arm.38 which is connected to the lever by a link 39,- at a point intermediate of the piston rod 34 and the weight 37. Leading from the supply pipe C and communicating with the lower end of thecylinder32 is a branch pipe 40 whereby fluid pressure may be exerted upon the piston 33 to cause the lever to swing the burner into working position. When the pressure within the conduit G is'cut off or materially reduced, the weight .37 will force the lever to swing the burner of air or steam thereto, but when the burner is swung into open position, the openings register with each other whereby the fuel is permittedito enterthe chamber A and the air or 'stea-mv enters the chamber B, these fluids: passing up through their: respective conduits andmixing 5 within the chamber 19 and being discharged in a mixed condition through the nozzle 20.

Y .As-be'forestatedl'in some cases it isdesir able to-provide means whereby whenthe air orsteam pressure' has been cut oflffand the with a slot:

burner shifted automatically to its inoperative position, then theburner shall remain in its inoperative position with the fuel cut off until it is positively shifted by hand to its operative position, so that if the air or steam beagain turned on, the burner will not shift to its operative position and thus allow a quantity of gas to'be generated in the not furnace which will eventually explode.

To this end and where this is desired, I have provided, as shown inFig. 5 a valve 41 in the branch pipe 40 which is connected by a link 42 to the lever valve, as illustrated in Fig. 5, is formed The link 42 is preferably reduced at its lower end and passes through this slot and carries a stop nut 43. A spring 44 is disposed between the upper face of the valve arm and a washer 45 and a pin 46 extends through the rod 42 above this washer 45.

The spring 44 permits the link. 42 to descend through the slot in the handle of the valve and protectsthe valve stem froni be- 1e again opened. The burner and inechanism is now securely locked against any automat1c return to its operative position and will stay in its inoperative position until the attendant manually pushes the burner 1 into operative position, Whichcauses, the

valve 41 to open and the burner is again in action and will therefore operate automatically so long as the pressure of air or steam is practically constant. Thus all danger ofuaccidental explosion is avoided.

With this valve 41 and the valve actuating means therefor in place, should it at any time be desired thatthe burner should work automatic-ally, then, the pin 46 may "be drivenlout, the handle of the valve 41 may be pushed up and the burner will operate both ways automatically, "the rod or link 42 simply sliding up and down in the slot in the valve. This safety locking valve is not ordinarily. used when my burner is.-used in connection with open hearth furnaces, but it may be so used if desired, nor is it designed to be used where the burners are constantly moving in and out ofthe furnace.

It is particularly necessary, however, where v the burner is used for an ordinary boiler.

furnace or drykiln, as in l h6$8f cases. if at This valve 1s a quick-opening valve and the arm of the a fuel.

any time the supply of air or steam through pipe C be cut oil", the burner will innnedi-ately drop back and lock. Many deaths have occurred and a great deal of damage has been done where the fireman or engineer :has neglected to shut the oil-off from the. boiler, leaving the burner to discharge'the,

oil into the furnace while he repairs the air pump. The oil discharging into the furnace accumulates and evolves gas and then.

a carelessly ignited rag or match thrown into the furnace will cause an explosion'domg great damage. This is an every day occurrence in furnaces using gas and by my mechanism this. chance of explosion is obviated.

I The swing check valve 9 acts to prevent,

the oil that may run backinto the air pipe from getting into the super-heating coils on top of the furnace and carbonizing and shutting these coils, off and this. valve-is particularly necessary The tubular 'members 7 are preferably made of brass and the valves formed by the heads 6 and the partitions 4 not onl act to cut off the supply of oil and air w ien the burner drops back from the furnace, as it does when 'thesteax'n or air is reversed or shut off for any cause, but they perform another important duty in that when the -oil boils in the heating coils, they prevent thegases generated by the boiling oil from forcing the oil out through the pipes and squirting it against the furnace causing'the to smoke and increasing theldanger of fire. :7 p y The brass'bushing 22 which holds the pipe 23 to the wall 3 can be readily removed if,-

furnace the threads on the pipe 23 wear out which often occurs in burners. The removal of th bushing can be' readily secured by re-' moving-the coupling 12, removing the pipe 14 and-taking out the; pipe 23 inthe bushing. It will be noted that the pipe 14 carries the hot air or steam burner point or nozzle and, therefole, the oil which enters the feed pipe 23 is-kept heated by this hot air or steam so thatthe oil, instead of herd-.15

coming cooler, as. it passes toward the nozzle, is; constantly heated and, as a matter-of fact, the oil isdelivered at. the entranceto with the ordinary construction. The check valves 27 prevent the oil runningfback into the air pipes. a i The ball and socket joint between the burner nozzleand the elbow 15 is a very 1mrpor'tant feature of my invention, as it permitsthe nozzle to he'set at an angle and allows the nozzle to be ad ustec to compen;

where oil isused as the burner nozzle many degrees hotter than sate for any expansiom contraction or/settling of the furnace.

I The'bushi-ng which supports the nozzle 20 inn-the member18 permits, a ready change of i the nozzle .or

burnerjpoint which is important as these nozzles or barrier points are rhang'ed two or three tunes a day. I v i r T e, general I mechanism Willbeobvious from what has gone before. When there is full pressure of air or steam or other like fluidin the supw thin the, cylinply pipe 0, the pressure der 32 will hold the piston 33 upward, thus shifting the burner to' its operative position,.

so that the flaine will be projected into the furnace, but it for any reason the supply of steam, air oi other fluid under pressure is cut oli-or reduced below/a predetermined, point,=the n the weight ton 33 to descend, thus retracting the burner from its operative to its inoperative position and eu ttin o'fi communication between the portsjand 8,' bothasregards the oil supply and the air or steanrsupply; Thus, when! 'ever the airprfessure is directed to one-end of the furnace, the burners at'the opposite end are. shifted to While the burners at that end to whichy'the erative.

atomizing bnrnernozzle oil with; the air.

5 bo'n i wouldgather and wou and' continually to its tersink 0 at thelinner' end It [will be seen that this countersink forms this wpoint extending air pressure is directedbecome operative thus eliminating thenecessityof a helper 'retraeting the burners or rendering them op- 'Furthermore, where the locking valve, 41-is used the burner, or burners. to Whichjthe valve is coiinected illi'e nain inoperative until the burner is'js ifted by hand operative position. I The mixing' chamber 19 is circularin cross section and tapered toward its outer end, and thenozzle 29is disposed to project i into the large end. of the chamber 19 concentrig tothejwall oftlie chamber. '.Because of the projection of a fine spray of oil into the. axial center of the mixing chamber, aswi'rling motion will be given to .theoil andtlie fluid before its ejection from the which. will thoroughlyiinix the Not onlyflwill this burner eliiu-inzrte the danger-sot explosion and-fire heretofore referred to, but itsaves oil; thelabor oft he helper or fireman.

Particularfattention called to the counan inwardl y beveled end on the burner 20 and this is very in'iport'an t, as it prevents the gathering of 'cai'bon at the entrance to the burner point, as stated previously in this specification; If there was a ld very shortly cl o rtll'lflli'llei requ ring that-the burner, PQI IItbG iemoyed'g-and tliat'anew burnen point he put inplace m-tl eold one cleaned,

and further-requiring. v I 'tenior of the'mixing chamber be cleaned out.

While I -have'illustrated a. form or'jniy invention iwhich 'l that the entire iii-.-

believeto be particularly operation ;of"tllis burner v .as"defined in 37' will cause the pis burner hiovable an inoperative position, i

4 to a source of fuel and f the nozzle 20. i

" oscillatably mounted shoulder at substantially at i rightanglc's -to the axis of the} burner, point, (tarm u the burner and StUCl; fuel and burner is pressure operated means connected to the source of position when effective, it will be obvious that changesinight'be made in the arrangement ofp'artS and details of construction without departing from the appended claims.

Iclaim:-- v 1; The combination with a turn-ace, of

many

the spiritof the invention 7 burners each having a fuel supply and a fluid pressure supply and each burner being mounted for moven'ient-into or out'of operative relation. with means for supplying botlro'f. said burners the furnace, common with fluid pressure, means for directing the fluid pressure into burners, and means associated with eachv one ortheotlier oi the burner and aetuatedby' a decrease of pressure of the fluid automatically burner out of its operative position and upon an ncrease of pressure" shitting' the burner into its operative position.

The combination with a'turnace, of'a relationfthercto, the" burner being connected iziug' fluid under pressure, auda pressure shifting the into and out of operative to a source of atom-fl operated device connected to the source of l'luid underpressure"acting to shift the burner to its operative position when the atomizing fluid acting under a predetermined pressure and simultaneously estal) 'lisliing connection wI-thfthe source of fuel;

buruento apnr iEqperatWe posi and shift the tion when the pressure creased below iuultaneoush dises'tablishiiigcommunication between the burner andthe source of fuel.

'A burner of the character described.

mounted for OS'ClllittiOiifll'itO- or out ot air operative position and connected to a source of fuel and to a source of ato uizing fluid "under pressure, and means actuated by the of the atoinizing fluid acting to pressure.

its operative pmto. shift the iburner sition and open connection "between the" I V I 'buriierand the source and savesfiO otf r of fuel and fluid. supplywheii theaton'iizing fluid hasacertain'predeter nined pressure but shifting the a -burner to its inoperative position and cut-3 tine; off the the pressure ear supply when a predeterof the fluid has'deciieased below mined point. g a I 4, V 4, A burner lithe characterZdescribed for inovementrinto or out of operative position and conn'ectedto a source of fuel supply and to a source 0 atomizing establishing connection between Q flu d. sources when the burner is in its operativefposition' [and disestabl'shing said connectionlwhen the 1 inf its inoperative position, and

the pressure of the fluid; under pressure; means '{tllfluid is at 115 pipe,'a piston operating therein, and a assay/as I a burner to'its inoperative position wh 'ressure of flui decreases beyond a 'preetermined point.

v 5. A burner of the charaeter'describedgineluding a. hollow body hav-in laterally pro- I 'ectin trunnions su p0 in bearings ivhere y the burner inily oscillate from or to w an o erative positien' and having a mixing 1'0 cham er, conduits entering the mixing chamber audc'onnected respectively to a'source of fuel and to a source 0 atomizi-ng fluid under pressure, a-su ply pipe for'the fluid under pressure, 9. cy inder connected to the supply operatively connected to the piston and oper- 'a'tively connected to the burner, said lever being constantly urged in a direction to shift the burner, to its inoperative o'sition but held in its operative position y presure within the cylinder, and means automatically cutting off the supply of fuel to the burner I upon a movementof the burnerfromits operative to its ino erative position. 6. A burner o the character described ineluding-a hollow body-having hollow mm nions, be'aringsin which the trunnions are mounted for oscillation, a pipe connection so source 0 fuel, a pipe connection extending from the other trunnion to a source of atom} izmg fluid under pressure,an arm extending from the burner, a lever, a:link-connectin'g' the arm and lever, 'a wei hturgin'g the lever '35 in a direction to shift t e'burner'to an in- "operative position, a cylinder connected .to the fluid supply p1pe,,anda piston within the cylinder engaged with said lever, the

pressure within the cylinder normally hold- 40 ing the lever and burner in an operative po- Simon, and means automatically cutting 01! the supply of fuel to the burner upon a movement of the burner to its inoperative p0 sitiorn 7. A furnace having 0 positely disposed,

burners, each ,shi-ftable in c or out of oper-- .atiye position with relation to the furnace and each connected to a source of fuel andtoe sourceof atomizingfluid under =pres' so sh re, I means a for directing the ateimzing fiuidirom thebu ners at one end of the inn nace'tothe oppos te-burners, and means act-- ever 7 extendin from "one of said trunnions .to a

each from oneof said chambers, there being a wall extending across each trunnion and formed with a port, bearings oscillatably supporting-the trunnions, and tubular members heldiro'm rotation and entering the ends of theftrunnions each tubular member having at its inner end a head provided with aipoi't adapted in one positionof the burner to register with the corresponding port in the wall and in another osition to be out of register-therewith, sai tubular members bein'g connected one with a source of fuel andthe other with a source of atomizing fluid under pressure,

9.'A burner including a mixing chamber having a, dischar nozzle operatively sup? ported in one en of the mixing chamber, said discharge nozzle having a bore of uni- 39' form diameter and having its rear end bev: v

' eled outwardly and rearwardly, and a fuel discharge pi havin "a contracted openin discharging P3150 saifchamber'in line wit said nozzle, the rear end of the chamber, communicating with as'ource 0f fluid under I a pressure.

. 10. A burner including a mixing chamber tapering uniforml from one end to the 'other, and a disc ar nozzle 'operatively be, supported in the smal end 'of"the,. mixinfi chamber and having its rear end 'bevele outwardly and rearwardly, and "a fuel discharge pipe having a contracted o ening} r discharging into the largeportion iii the chamber in line with said nozzle, the larger end of the chamber communieating-with a source of fluid under pressure.

-In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in the (gresence'of two witnW,

n r i H WARDL. 

